Students read books at the Bangiya Sahitya Parishad Library. Picture by Avijit Sarkar

Siliguri, Dec. 18: The National Library Day will be celebrated on December 20, but it’s an exercise in futility for the Bangiya Sahitya Parishad Makakuma Granthagar, the subdivision’s oldest library.

Established in 1964, the library, which is housed in a dank and rundown building, has fallen on hard times, thanks to various infrastructure inadequacies.

Earlier, it used to be an intellectual hub when about 200 visitors would drop by daily. But nowadays the readers’ interest is to be on the wane — only 50 visitors, comprising mostly students, come here daily.

Those who make it a point to visit the library, however, have to contend with termite infested crumbling roof, which may collapse on their head any day.

Sources said: “Though the library boasts of 22,000 odd books and journals, termites have destroyed about 6,000 of them over the past three decades.”

The library, which comprises a big hall and a small storeroom, also suffers from an acute shortage of staff and space crunch.

At present, it boasts of a solitary employee, librarian Biren Chanda.

“The authorities often fail to give us the books we require. There are no catalogues either. We do not even know whether the book is available here or not,” said Uma Sashi Das, a student, who visits here regularly.

Asked about the teething problems, librarian Chanda pleaded helplessness. “Since I have to manage everything alone, I often face great difficulties. At times, I am unable to locate the books that the readers ask for. Usually I go through the requisition slips after duty hours and keep the books ready for the next day,” he said.

“The situation has worsened because of the staff crunch. Three of the four sanctioned posts have been lying vacant for the past seven years. I have no other option but to take help from the employees of the additional district library. They help me in preparing the list and also take care of the library when I am on leave,” he added.

“Though the state government had sanctioned Rs 14 lakh in 1998 for infrastructure upgradation, the funds were not spent due to a dispute regarding the ownership of the library land,” said the sources.